We flew from Atlanta, arriving in Newark. The ground transportation was very efficient. Vincent and Andrew met us at the airport holding a Carnival Victory sign. They were very courteous and "took us under their wing" escorting us to the bus which came right away and took us to the New York port. The traffic was horrendous in New York and the road narrowed down to two very small lanes before we reached the unloading area of the port. Everything regarding embarkation was smooth, but the lines were terrible. I felt that we walked a distance equal to about a mile inside the New York port terminal because of the winding lines. The ship (Victory) was very nice, clean and it was easy to navigate the hallways. Our stateroom was a balcony room and very clean. Gregioro and Adi kept the rooms spotless. The food in the dining room was good, but the steaks tended to be a little on the tough side even though I ordered mine "medium". We noticed the first two days we were on the boat that we could hear dishes being dropped and broken throughout the dining room. The first morning of open seating breakfast my sister-in-law found a hair in her breakfast pastry. On the Captain's Gala night, my other sister-in-law found a hair laying on top of her lobster. The hair was black and her hair is red. On the second morning of open seating, I found broken china in my scrambled eggs. Needless to say, I didn't eat breakfast that morning and was very cautious on other mornings. The shore excursions gave a good overview of the ports we visited. Boston was the worst narrated. We were on the back of a noisy trolley and the elderly driver/tour guide had a thick Boston accent that was very hard to hear and understand on the noisy trolley. The best part of the embarking and disembarking process was the disembarking. We did the "self assist" taking our luggage off ourselves. It was very fast and uneventful. With the exception of the food mishaps, I thoroughly enjoyed the cruise.